Foreign
Sovereign Debt Risk. Foreign sovereign debt securities are subject to the risk that a
governmental entity may delay or refuse to pay interest or to repay principal on
its sovereign debt, due, for example, to cash flow problems, insufficient foreign
currency reserves, political, social and economic considerations, the relative size of the governmental entity’s debt position in relation to the economy or the failure to put
in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other
multilateral agencies. If a governmental entity defaults, it may ask for more time in which to
pay or for further loans.
Interest Rate Risk.
The value of fixed-income securities may decline when interest rates go up or increase when
interest rates go down. The interest earned on fixed-income securities may
decline when interest rates go down or increase when interest rates go up. Longer-term and lower coupon bonds tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates. The Fund may be
subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the current period of
historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to these initiatives. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest
rates due to the current period of historically low rates and the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to these initiatives.
Junk Bond Risk. High yielding, high risk fixed-income securities (often referred to as “junk bonds”) may involve
significantly greater credit risk, market risk and interest rate risk compared to
higher rated fixed-income securities. Issuers of junk bonds are less secure financially and their securities are more sensitive to downturns in the economy. The market for junk bonds may not
be as liquid as that for more highly rated securities.
Market Risk. The Fund’s share price can fall because of weakness in the broad market, a particular industry, or
specific holdings or due to adverse social, political or economic developments
here or abroad, changes in investor psychology, technological disruptions, or heavy
institutional selling and other conditions or events (including, for example,
military confrontations, war, terrorism, trade wars, disease/virus outbreaks and
epidemics). The prices of individual securities may fluctuate, sometimes
dramatically, from day to day. The prices of stocks and other equity securities tend to be more
volatile than those of fixed-income securities.
Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund may invest in a smaller number of issuers, its value may be affected to a greater extent by the
performance of any one of those issuers or by any single economic, political, market or
regulatory event affecting any
one of those issues than a fund that invests in a larger number of issuers.
Money Market Securities Risk. An investment in the
Fund is subject to the risk that the value of its investments in high-quality
short-term obligations (“money market securities”) may be subject to changes in interest rates, changes in the rating of any money market security and in the ability of an issuer to make
payments of interest and principal.
U.S. Government Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government and
are generally considered to have low credit risk. Unlike U.S. Treasury obligations, securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies or authorities and U.S. Government-sponsored
instrumentalities or enterprises may or may not be backed by the full faith and
credit of the U.S. Government and are therefore subject to greater credit risk
than securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury.
Securities Lending Risk. Engaging in securities lending could increase the market and credit risk for Fund investments. The Fund may lose money if it
does not recover borrowed securities, the value of the collateral falls, or the
value of investments made with cash collateral declines. The Fund’s loans will be collateralized by securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies and instrumentalities,
which subjects the Fund to the credit risk of the U.S. Government or the issuing
federal agency or instrumentality. If the value of either the cash collateral or the Fund’s investments of the cash collateral falls below the amount owed to a borrower, the Fund also may incur losses that
exceed the amount it earned on lending the security. Securities lending also
involves the risks of delay in receiving additional collateral or possible loss
of rights in the collateral if the borrower fails. Another risk of securities lending is the risk that the loaned portfolio securities may not be available to the Fund on a timely basis and the Fund
may therefore lose the opportunity to sell the securities at a desirable price.
The below bar chart and table illustrate the risks of
investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from
calendar year to calendar year and comparing the Fund’s average annual returns to those of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index (USD hedged) (a broad-based securities market index) and
a blended index, which is comprised of the 70% FTSE WGBI (unhedged) and the 30%
JP Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Index (the “Intl Gov Bd Blended Index”), which